Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga has become the first African and Kansas City player in history to earn Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the National Women’s Soccer League (NSWL).
She was voted after she made history by scoring 20 goals in a single season, record a goal in eight consecutive regular season games and score a goal against every other NWSL team since the league began.
Chawinga won the 2024 NWSL Golden Boot also becoming the first African and Kansas City player to earn the glory as she netted the highest regular season goal total of any NWSL player.
With 20 goals and six assists in 2024, Chawinga also set the NWSL’s single-season record for goal contributions.
Speaking in an interview Kansas City club, Coach Vlatko Andonovski described Chawinga as a great player on the pitch and a great teammate.
“Temwa has come so far this season in a short amount of time and is so important to our team. She is the clear MVP of both our team and the league. She does so much for us both offensively and defensively and, most importantly, she is a great teammate,” he said.
Temwa joined Kansas City in January and is the eighth NWSL Golden Boot winner to also win MVP in the same season since the league’s launch in 2013. She is the first African international to win either award.
The 26-year-old Malawi international joined Kansas City this year from the Chinese Super League, scoring her first goal for the Current in a 4-2 win over Angel City FC on March 30 to become the first African goal scorer in NWSL history.
With hunger for more goals, she netted four goals in her first five games and was named in the NWSL team of the month for April.
Temwa took the league by storm but in June when she scored scored six goals in four games in the month of June, leading her to be named NWSL player of the month and overtaking Orlando Pride’s Barbara Banda after defeating Houston Dash and helping the Current win their then-record 17th undefeated regular-season game in a row.
She scored in a league-record eight regular-season games in a row from June 9 to September 7 being named NWSL Player of the Month with four goals in five games in September.
She scored her 19th goal of the season in a 1-0 win over Bay FC on October 12, breaking Samantha Kerr’s single-season record of 18 goals in 2019.
She scored in 13 of the Current’s final 14 matches of the regular season, including goals in eight straight games, which was a first in the league history.
She also scored a goal against all 13 other NWSL teams this season, another first, and she added five assists to the Current’s league record 57 goals this season.
“Congratulations to Temwa for being named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States of America. We are incredibly proud of you. Keep shining as you continue to put Malawi on the map,” said Fleethood Haiya, Football Association of Malawi President.
Chawinga was nominated alongside Orlando Pride’s Zambian Barbra Banda and Brazilian legend Marta of Washington’s Trinity Rodman and Portland’s Sophia Smith rounding out the shortlist.
